‘American Horror Story’ Season 8 Will Officially Be That ‘Murder House’ ‘Coven’ Crossover

It seems like ages ago when Ryan Murphy first revealed he was planning to do a entire American Horror Storycrossover season between Murder House and Coven. That idea seemingly got pushed further back as a eighth season with a futuristic plot came into play, but now Murphy reveals Season 8 of his horror anthology series will indeed be the much-anticipated crossover.

The co-creator announced the news on Twitter on Thursday, revealing that the crossover between the first and third seasons of the show is happening this year for Season 8. So does this mean all those details we heard about Season 8 have been scrapped and reserved for the ninth season? Or will those play into the Murder House and Coven crossover? It’s not entirely clear.

We do know what the basic plot of the crossover will be though. A while back Murphy said the season would follow a character from Murder House attending Miss Robichaux Academy from Coven, the New Orleans witch academy run by Sarah Paulson’s Cordeila Foxx at the end of the season. Here’s what he told Entertainment Weekly last year:

It’s a character from season 1 that will be thrust into the world that you are left with at the end of Coven, which is sort of like the male/female/witch academy. And then all of those characters will intertwine, which is confusing because some of them are from seasons 1 and 3. Like, Sarah Paulson will probably be playing 18 characters.

As we’ve previously guessed, a grown-up Michael Harmon (Constance’s evil grandson) would be a perfect fit to join the school of witchcraft, and if it’s set in the present-day that would make him about 9 years old. But perhaps we shouldn’t dismiss the rest of the Season 8 details we’ve heard.

Here’s what we know about the previously announced Season 8: It’s set in the future, specifically “18 months from today,” Paulson will don some creepy dental appliances, Evan Peters and Kathy Bates are back in leading roles with the former playing a hairstylist, and Billy Eichner – who confirmed his return today – Cheyenne Jackson, Adina Porter, and Leslie Grossman would also be returning, plus newcomers Joan Collins and Anjelica Houston. But knowing Murphy, that could all be ditched to focus on the crossover. Plus, it’s going to be super confusing if Paulson and Peters are playing their Murder House and Coven characters on top of new ones (hey don't count any ghosts out!). Then again, Paulson could totally be playing 18 characters. The important question remains though: will Jessica Lange return?